I'm trying to stain some cherry wood and just seem to get blochy results. I'm using a gel stain which is doing much better than the thin stuff. I'm putting it on evenly and wiping off the excess. Is it in the wood or the stain or the application method? Any help would be appricated.
Thanks George
Miniwax brand, right?
staining cherry is very hard. even with gel stain i've never been able to get it non-blotchy.
that's why i use dye and toner coats.
works for me. there are people who know far more about finishing cherry than i do. personally i don't like that dark red look - i'm a fan of natural cherry with a hint of red-brown toner.
---- dz
Miniwax brand, right?
No, actually I was using Rockler Mission Cherry Stain. I did try thinning it out some with Miniwax and worked nice on one test pc but on the next one it was terrible. I don't use miniwax by itself at all.
Well, staining woods like Cherry and Maple, Birch tend to be kinda tough to start with. You will have a bit more control with the gels.
Some woods just don't like to be stained. They act like they love you and when you commit they laugh at you and tell you that your mom dresses you funny. My experience has been to use a surface stain instead of a penetrating stain. You would seal the wood with a clear coat and then apply the stain over the sealed wood. The stain is translucent so you can see the grain, and you get nice even coverage and no splotches. The up side is you can change the color later if you decide to. max
Try a water-based dye, or if you have access to the equipment try spraying light coats.
"max" skrev i melding news:BDC01394.33E6D% snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net...
A beautiful idea! Thanks.
Bjarte
When I stain blotchy woods like cherry and birch I head in one of two directions.
#1 - most often - I apply a barrier coat of Seal Coat, then wipe on a Behlen's pigment stain. The stain is dry brushed while it's wet until it's even. Watch for pigment build-up in corners and at edges. For more color. apply another barrier coat and add another treatment of the same or a different color pigment stain. (optional) Apply a light colored dye, like Solar Lux before the first barrier. Use a barrier between each product until you begin to add clear top coats. I lightly scuff the top coats with 320 grit to keep things smooth and remove dust nibs.
#2 - add colorant to a clear lacquer and build color as I spray clear top coats. Don't try to do this in one coat, build color slowly.
#1 will not usually work with Home Center brands of stain, they will never dry. The H.Behlen and Mohawk lines handle much differently and dry much faster than cheaper stuff. So, if you try the method with different materials and it dosen't work, don't blame me.
Practice on scrap!
Barry
Good approach. I use linseed to condition yellow birch, a truly bad actor in the stain department, or aspen, which suffers from the same interlocked grain problem. It won't stain as dark, of course, because it doesn't penetrate as well, so start a tint or two beyond in your test.
What do you use for a clear coat? A sanding sealer or something like that? Can you recommend a specific product? Thanks.
try applying a coat of 2# shellac as a conditioner followed by a gel stain. I've done that with good results.
Frosty Thunder wrote:
Cherry is almost always blotchy when stained. You can use a "wood conditioner" or "Pre-stain". I know everyone hates Minwax around here but they make one you can get at the Borg. It will help a some, but with Cherry it is really difficult to get good results.
One trick I use is try test pieces that have been sanded with various weights of sand paper. For instance, a piece sander to just 120 will likely stain much more evenly than one sanded to 400. You can get good results with the 120 if you use a light hand and take your time. Too fine of a grain sanding can make using pigment stains difficult to get get good penetration and tone.
Another idea is to try using an anoline or other dye stain. A bit more difficult and less forgoving and not always better, but maybe worth a try. You can get some pre-mixed versions of the non-grain raising NGR from the nice folks at Wood Finishing Supply.com.
Finally, Cherry darkens with sunlight. It happens real quick with direct light. Try some Tung oil and turpentine then set it under a sun lamp or outdoors.
BW
Spray on water based dye. It will come out perfect, as long as you apply ONLY "dry" coats and build up the color gradually.
David
Frosty Thunder wrote:
Cherry looks so nice all by itself, there is nothing I would suggest stainwise to improve upon what nature did here. Maybe a little tung oil to pop the grain, and a topcoat of shellac/wax.
Howdy,
Built my kitchen cabinets and island out of Cherry plywood, with solid cherry face frames.
The results were exceptional. No blotchiness whatsoever. The shellac controls overpentration of the gel stain, which in itself does not penetrate very far.
Hope this helps. Good Luck.
-Albert
If your customer or your wife wants dark cherry, you really need to learn how to stain cherry!
Why do so many find that so hard to grasp?
Barry
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 22:12:13 -0500, "Frosty Thunder" calmly ranted:
Use 4 ounces of India ink to thin the stain. Match the type, oil for oil-based, water for water-borne stains. That should even it out to a nice, dark, even color.
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Dark cherry? Is there any other kind? That's where it all ends up anyway. That's why god invented the "ultra violet" section of the spectrum of light.
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